Cerulean Berry
The Cerulean Berry ''(クアーウレアﾝ・ベリー, Kuaaurean Berii) is a truly incredible fruit, capable of storing immense amounts of delicious juice within it, even more than it's already larger than normal height and weight imply. It is believed to have originated in the fearsome Heavy Hole, but was later moved to --- by the IGO for reasons of cultivation. Due to the immense pressure of the Heavy Hole, what was originally a massive patch of berries was slowly forced to and condensed together into one massive berry with the contents of hundreds. Its incredible flavor has led to becoming a semi-legendary ingredient among Bishokuya, as well as among elements such as the Bishokukai and the Bishokuikki. Its capture is the main focus of the '''Cerulean Berry Arc '''in ''Memoirs of a Bishokuya. '' Its juice is the current Drink in Marimo's Full Course Menu. Description While it is not entirely known how the Cerulean Berry truly originated, it is commonly believed and accepted that the ingredient began as a large collection of berries located on one branch, connected to a small, out of the way plant in the area known as the Heavy Hole. As centuries passed, the incredible pressure of the area around it began to slowly effect the group of berries, pressing them together more and more tightly and causing them to slowly abandon their current shape, transforming into a massive, almost gelatinous glob of pure berry-ness. As even more time passed and the blob began making its way down towards the very bottom of Heavy Hole, the mass was shaped into a massive sphere. After this stage, little is known about how a Cerulean Berry is formed, but it was believed to have eventually become its own berry in its own right, possessing the taste of juice of thousands of the berries that had originally made it up. Due to this, it also possesses a greater amount of seeds than almost any berry that is known to man, and when placed in a fertile enough area can reproduce at a truly incredible rate, though in the end it ends up producing very few 'children', due to the incredible amount of nutrients that each Cerulean Berry requires in order to grow into its full potential. It is commonly believed that during its time in Heavy Hole, the younger berries derived their needed nutrients from the corpses of creatures that had perished in the Heavy Hole, using its roots to dig into its body and absorb the nutrients it needs. This requirement for nutrients is believed to also come from the first Cerulean Berry being created as a combination of thousands of different berries, resulting in it needing the nutrients to match the amount of berry-based aspects that it needs to develop. For a great amount of time, the berry was largely unknown to the public, until it was finally discovered by a very powerful Bishokuya, who managed to secure one and bring it to the outside world and confirm its existence. Once this occurred, a large amount of the Human World's prominent gourmets became intrigued with the fruit and demanded to try the sample the Bishokuya had managed to acquire, or at least have someone procure another one from the same location as the first. However, due to the dangers of the Heavy Hole itself this was practically impossible for all except the most experienced and powerful Bishokuyas, and so hope at managing to procure one died a quick and painless death, and the ingredient began to be referred to as the '''Phantasmal Berry '(幻影のベリー, Gen'ei no Berī). Eventually. the IGO managed to acquire one and promptly moved it to --- in order to cultivate the phantasmal ingredient on their own terms. With this completed, the organization simply prepared for another batch of Cerulean Berries to hatch in order to send in a Bishokuya capable of acquiring them... Appearance As Food The Cerulean Berry is, without a doubt, a Special Preparation Ingredient ''(特別な準備成分, Tokubetsu na Junbi Seibun)'', mostly due to the unique structure of the fruit itself. While many who had initially discovered the ingredient had believed that the juice could be derived by simply puncturing it, or eating it by devouring it as it was, these beliefs turned out to be false, as the juice that was emitted this way tasted sour and unpleasant, and eating it produced a similar taste to the juice. This was due to the location of the stem, in actuality. All nutrients that go into the creation of the massive berries come through the stem due to it being connected to the roots that actually procured them from the soil or nearby deceased living beings. Since the stem is located on the very top of the berry, all of the nutrients were funneled directly through the outer skin and into the exact center of the ingredient. Because of this, when the Cerulean Berry actually becomes ripe all of the good flavor in both the juice and body is stored in the center or near the center of the ingredient, with the deliciousness penetrating the outlying layers at an incredibly slow pace (so slow that it has been hypothesized to take over 100 years for the taste of a Cerulean Berry to permeate throughout the entire fruit). So, the early gourmets whom had devoured it in a simpler manner had instead tried to eat tissue that had almost nothing in it except the dregs of various berries and juice with a similar condition, accounting for its initial bad taste. In order to properly bring out the juice and full taste of the Cerulean Berry after it has been plucked from the stem, one has to carefully find the area on the top of the ingredient that looks different from the rest of the berry (due to the stem formerly being implanted there). Once this area has been spotted, the chef preparing it must slowly insert their knife into exact center of the section, and being off by even the smallest of measurements causes the berry to violently expel a massive amount of nutrient water, meaning that a decent bit of the good taste is lost. Even then, the knife has to go in a certain amount or a similar effect will occur. If the chef manages to insert the knife properly, they must then carefully peel back the skin and the various layers of skin that covers the berry, removing one layer at a time as carefully as humanly possible. Once this has been achieved, they must then begin removing the outlying layers of tissue that protect the center and are eventually permeated by the taste of the ingredient. This must be done slightly slower than removing the skin in order to avoid accidentally puncturing the center and spilling a massive amount of the juice, as well as ruining the actually edible parts of the tissue itself that are close enough to the juice to have absorbed large portions of its flavor. After everything has been successfully peeled away, and if all goes well, than the ingredient is ready for actual consumption. When it is ready to serve, all that should be left of the Cerulean Berry is the exact center, which takes the form of a much smaller version of the outside of the fruit, with the addition of a faint heavenly glow around the entire ingredient. The center must be handled with the utmost caution, as it is very sensitive to stimulus and often threatens to break open at the slightest improper touch. In order to simply drink the juice, the center must be turned on its side, and the juice will trickle freely from the top and into whatever container it will be drunk from. If one desires to devour both the juice and the tissue, it can be cut and divided much like any fruit, but also has to be done with the utmost caution and patience to avoid messing up the whole job and causing the fruit to violently eject all the juice and flavor within it. This carefulness even has to be kept when one is eating it, leading to most being satisfied with drinking the juice as it takes superhuman levels of patience and stamina in order to properly devour it with anything resembling utensils (including actual body parts such as hands, feet, tails, or even claws). Whichever one that the eater chooses to partake in, the results that await them when it comes to eating this ingredient can only be described as delightful. The juice itself is a calm cerulean color, though the liquid is completely transparent as water and seems to be something of a visual anomaly in this regard. When drank, the juice is said to taste like hundreds, nay, millions of berries all combined into one. Not smashed together, mind you, but perfectly combined so the best parts of all the different berry types come together in sweet harmony that delights the senses and fills the body with a sense of ecstasy and peace, the wonderful taste causing almost anyone who drinks it to cry incredible amounts of tears due to the pure deliciousness of it. Anyone who drinks it also receives the full benefits of the nutrients that were stored in the fruit, and while they don't' receive ALL of the nutrients that could be absorbed, they receive a good deal of them and often feel rejuvenated, no matter what kind of exhaustion and damage they had taken before devouring it. For those who are relatively injury-free, they find themselves to have gained a brief but powerful boost in their overall health and even mental state, some describing it as feeling as if your problems have been washed away by the cool, cleansing taste of the liquid. For those to choose devouring it, the experience seems to be somewhat the same, though they oddly receive LESS of the nutrients due to the tissue absorbing it fully when it permeates through them. Either way, the ingredient is incredibly delicious and can be considered well worth the trouble gone into both acquiring it and actually cooking it to make it fit for consumption, at times bringing well-versed gourmets on the verge of tears. Trivia *The inspiration for the creation of this ingredient came from the author's favorite drink, Mountain Berry Blast "Blue" Powerade, and the taste of the berry's juice can be considered a massive extrapolation of the taste of the ingredient that inspired it. Category:Zeon1 Category:Ingredient Category:Original Ingredient Category:Special Preparation Ingredient Category:Marimo's Full Course Category:Fruit Category:Memoirs of a Bishokuya Category:Capture Lvl 1-100